Acupressure therapy

Father Georgy Chistyakov

Recently it was announced the opening of a new program of the Soros Foundation "Hot Spots". Its curator was the Orthodox priest Father Georgy Chistyakov

(Photo: Oleg Moiseev )

We are developing the “Hot Spots” program together with experts whom we attract from scientific institutions, from human rights and other non-governmental organizations, from among employees of government agencies, including the presidential administration. Like most Open Society Institute programs, the Hot Spots program is a competition system. We'll be announcing three soon that we're offering to NGOs and nonprofits working in hot spots. We take into account that the problems of the Caucasus are not limited to Chechnya, but in 2000 we plan to deal specifically with the North Caucasus and the regions that surround it: there are refugees in a number of districts of the Rostov region, and in Astrakhan, and in the border regions. In Rostov you can already feel the war - if only by the way they check you at the airport. Refugees, displaced people, the wounded, specific diseases - everything indicates that this is a front-line city.

The provisions for three competitions are almost ready (public peace initiatives in the North Caucasus, support for culture in hot spots, assistance to refugees and internally displaced persons), and the fourth competition for independent media working in the North Caucasus is under development.

Competitions end with us gathering grant recipients in some place (it could be Rostov, Taganrog or Nalchik). They meet with each other, with our experts and with us. And here the most serious work begins: the exchange of ideas, contacts, and experience.

We already have proven methods. There are people with whom we worked on other, cultural or social, programs. Among the Soros laureates of the “For Asceticism” award there is a wonderful woman - Tamara Shishkhova, who participated in the reconciliation of the warring parties in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, and now does a lot for the wounded and for an orphanage in Ingushetia. She is one of our operators and will assist our experts. Some programs will be developed with the participation of Vladimir Vladimirovich Shcherbakov, who heads the laboratory for identifying those killed in the Chechen war. More people will emerge who can be given money on a non-competitive basis. The competition is aimed primarily at identifying and supporting the initiative. We are waiting for proposals and projects in the following areas: working with children who have not been to school for a long time, do not know how to read and write, but know how to disassemble and assemble a machine gun and shoot a grenade launcher; working with children who have lost their parents; with women who have lost their husbands; with those who took part in the hostilities. Working in places where the mixed population cannot find a common language. Work with the intelligentsia - to create media, public structures, cultural structures that would unite representatives of different nationalities of the North Caucasus.

We can and should involve the clergy and believers of different faiths in working on civic projects. If some humanitarian organization that helps children or the homeless, or is involved in peacekeeping, or dialogue between two nations, can combine the efforts of an Orthodox priest and a mullah from Dagestan or Chechnya, that would be great.

So that information about our competitions can be received by everyone who is interested in it, we want to use our branches in Nalchik and Rostov, contacts of the Memorial society, human rights organizations, unions of soldiers' mothers and contacts that presidential structures have. Because the administration expressed the most ardent desire to work with us.

The Soros Foundation does not currently work with individuals. Any organization submitting an application for the competition must be a legal entity and have relevant documents from the Ministry of Justice. One of the most important issues is the adaptation of yesterday's soldiers. This work is needed, but only a very serious public organization can undertake it. Cooperation with authorities is necessary. This is difficult for human rights activists in the West to understand, who have been fighting government agencies throughout their lives. In their stable society this is natural. Our situation is completely different. In addition, the current government is ready to cooperate with public organizations. This must be used.

The Open Society Institute recently held a “Let's Help Together” competition dedicated to the penitentiary system. We created an expert council, which included human rights activists and law enforcement officials on a parity basis. It was very difficult to bring so many different people together in one room and help them work together. But it turned out that this is possible. The most worthy professionals from the law enforcement system and wonderful human rights activists looked at each other extremely unkindly at first, but then, when one, two, tenth, hundredth applications were considered, it turned out that they could perfectly complement and correct each other. Sometimes we argue with each other for five, six hours, but argue constructively.

Today, a huge number of organizations have already declared their readiness to participate in the “Hot Spots” program. The total budget now amounts to about 10 million dollars. The grants themselves are small, 5-10 thousand dollars each. But we expect that not 10 - 20, but one hundred, two hundred, three hundred projects will win these competitions. And there will also be non-competitive projects, there will be larger projects that, as a result of meetings, will unite several grant recipients.

It seems to us that the situation can only move forward when it is decided not by just one, albeit powerful, organization, but by hundreds of organizations and thousands, tens of thousands of people. This is the secret of an open society - the involvement in the social process of almost all, ideally, citizens of the country.